AMERICAN ADOPTION CONGRESS 32Nd Annual National Conference Registration and Information Book
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Registration and Information Book AMERICAN ADOPTION CONGRESS 32nd Annual National conference Many Faces Of Adoption Wednesday, April 13 – Sunday, April 17, 2011 The Florida Hotel and Conference Center Orlando, Florida Wednesday, April 13 - Sunday, April 17, 2011 the florida hotel and conference center orlando, florida et a jump on spring and join us in Orlando for Gthe 32nd Annual AAC Conference, Many Faces of Adoption. April is a lovely time in Central Florida, with temperatures in the low 80s, sunshine and low humidity. The conference will include a unique blend of keynotes, workshops, film, performance and celebration. We hope you can join us. n Wednesday, April 13, 2011 we are offering special Oadmission to the Universal Orlando theme parks. The Islands of Adventure offers exciting roller coasters, 3D entertainment, and the new Wizarding World of cinemas, CityWalk is also host to a variety of concerts Harry Potter. At the Universal Studio Florida you will and special events throughout the year. The conference go behind the scenes, beyond the screen, and jump right opens on Wednesday evening with Making the Most of into the action of your favorite movies at the number one the Conference Experience, followed by a performance movie and TV based theme park in the world. You can of BLANK by Brain Stanton. reserve your ticket when you register for the conference. Not into theme parks? You can take our bus to Universal he Florida Hotel and Conference Center is located CityWalk, for dinner and shopping. As popular with locals Twithin the Florida Mall, with many dining options as it is with visitors, this 30-acre entertainment complex at all price points within close walking distance. It is is Orlando's ideal destination for family fun, a place to seven miles from Orlando International Airport. Shuttles hang out with friends, or a romantic evening for couples. are readily available to the hotel at less than $30 round In addition to its nightclubs, restaurants, shops and trip. The American Adoption Congress is comprised of individuals, families and organizations committed to adoption reform. We represent those whose lives are touched by adoption or other loss of family continuity. We promote honesty, openness and respect for family connections in adoption, foster care and assisted reproduction. We provide education for our members and professional communities about the lifelong process of adoption. We advocate legislation that will grant every individual access to information about his or her family and heritage. 2 Many Faces of Adoption Conference Details DATES Wednesday, April 13 - Sunday, April 17, 2011 CONFERENCE CHAIR Eileen McQuade - [email protected] CONFERENCE COMMITTEE Donnie Davis, AAC President, West Regional Director Archie Hyde, AAC GA State Rep Linda Clausen, AAC DC/MD State Rep Sondi Hill, AAC Southern Regional Director Elise Lewis, AAC Mid-Atlantic Regional Director Suzanne Martin Cindy McGuigan, AAC Treasurer Marilyn Waugh, Past President and KS State Rep ACCOMMODATIONS The Florida Hotel and Conference Center, 1500 Sand Lake Road, Orlando, Florida 3280, Tel: 407.859.1500 SPECIAL CONFERENCE GROUP RATE Special Conference Group Rate - $119.00 per night, Single, Double, Triple or Quad Rate includes free Internet access, free parking, and waiver of the resort fee. TO MAKE YOUR RESERVATION ~ By clicking the link when you receive your conference registration confirmation. ~ Call the hotel directly @ 407.859.1500. Be sure to mention you are with the American Adoption Congress to obtain the special rate. Please note - Conference registrants are responsible for making their own hotel reservations after completing conference registration. Registering for the conference does not reserve a hotel room for you. CEUs The AAC is working to provide CEUs for those professionals who require them. We have applied to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). After NASW approval, AAC will post the total number of credits on www.americanadoptioncongress.org. CEU credits are available for $50, which includes all application processing and filing fees. Please contact Gigi Srajer at [email protected] for additional information. 3 Keynote: What's the Good in Adoptive Development? Presented by Dr. Ron Nydam Thursday, April 14, 9:00 am In this address, Ron will explore the good, the bad, and even the ugly in adoptive development with an eye toward sorting Many Fac Of Adoption out an honest, healthy perspective of our adoption stories. Our Western culture by es and large has managed relinquishment and adoption in understandable, but less than ethical ways, sometimes resulting in corresponding lifelong impingements for all triad members. e adoption community has seen these difficulties but has had little voice in facilitating change. Ron will offer some ethical reflections that will give foundation to a stronger argument for understanding and legislative and societal change. Rev. Ron Nydam, Ph.D, has been with AAC for the past 15 years as an advocate for better understanding of the impact of relinquishment on adoptive development. The author of “Adoptees Come of Age: Living April 13 – April 17, 2011 within Two Families”, Ron has been a student of children who suffer early- The Florida Hotel and on parent loss in a variety of settings. Over the past 8 years he has traveled Conference Center 5 times to the same orphanage in Ukraine to work with the parenting staff there with issues of compromised attachment. Ron conducts a counseling Orlando, Florida practice with adult adoptees and serves as Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at Calvin Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Film: Bio-Dad Film: In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee Presented by Barry Stevens - Writer and Director Presented by Deann Liem - Producer, Director, Writer Thursday, April 14, 7:30 pm Friday, April 15, 10:45 am Filmmaker Barry Stevens was Her passport said she was conceived by artificial insemination Cha Jung Hee. She knew she more than half a century ago. In was not. So began a 40-year 1999, he set out to find the deception for a Korean anonymous man who was his adoptee who came to the biological father and as many of the U.S. in 1966. Told to keep hundreds of half siblings as he could her true identity secret from find. Bio-Dad is the documentary her new American family, film that tells the story of his search, this 8-year-old quickly forgot she was ever anyone else. But why with all its disappointments, had her identity been switched? And who was the real Cha Jung successes, and more than one jaw-dropping surprise. Hee? In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee is the search to find the answers, as acclaimed filmmaker Deann Borshay Liem (First Barry is a Toronto writer and filmmaker. For many years he was an Person Plural, POV 2000) returns to her native Korea to find actor and then a screenwriter, writing TV series and movies such as the her “double,” the mysterious girl whose place she took in award-winning “The Diary of Evelyn Lau,” (Sandra Oh's debut America. starring role). A one-off called “Offspring” about his search for the man from whose sperm he was made was seen in 61 countries and was Deann Borshay Liem has over twenty years experience working in nominated for an Emmy and a Grierson, and won the Donald development, production and distribution of independent documentaries. Brittain Award as well as being voted the most popular film at IDFA. She is Producer, Director, and Writer for the Emmy Award-nominated He wrote the film adaptation of Douglas Coupland's “Souvenir of documentary, “First Person Plural” (Sundance, 2000). A Sundance Institute Canada,” co-wrote “The Last Just Man,” about Dallaire in Rwanda, Fellow and a recipient of a Rockefeller Film/Video Fellowship, she is currently and directed a film about strategic bombing called “The Bomber's the Executive Director of Katahdin Productions, a non-profit documentary Dream.” He has won several Gemini and Writer's Guild Awards. production company based in Berkeley and Los Angeles, California. 4 Songs from “The Foundling” and Other Stories Keynote: The Journey of a Transracial Adoptee Presented by Mary Gauthier - Singer Songwriter Presented by Susan Harris O’Connor Friday, April 15, 7:30 pm Saturday, April 16, 1:30 pm Mary Gauthier will perform songs from Susan will present two her new release, The Foundling, a song performance pieces. e Harris cycle that tells her story of being given Racial Identity eory: Reflections up at birth in 1962 to St. Vincent's of a Transracial Adoptee makes Women's and Infants’ Asylum on sense of and articulates the Magazine Street in New Orleans. The richness and complexity of her songs chronicle the journey of the child racial and cultural identity. e into adulthood, and recount an attempt second presentation, My Mind's at reconciliation between daughter and Blueprint Inclusive of an Oppressed mother, as well as the adoptee's journey Identity Construct Model: Reflections/Introspections of a Transracial through the emotions surrounding that experience. Mary will Adoptee, makes sense of her experience with holding both be accompanied by Tania Elizabeth on the five-string violin privileged and multiple oppressed identities. In doing so, she and vocals. created an oppressed identity mind construct model to tell the story of how it fights to maintain its sanity and integrity. Acclaim has followed Mary Gauthier on every step of her remarkable journey. Her breakthrough album, “Mercy Now” (2005), was Susan Harris O'Connor (MSW) is known nationally and continuously “discovered” and lauded for the two years following its internationally for her narrative writing and pioneering work on the release, earning mention on a score of year end “best of” lists. Since development of racial identity theory. She is a graduate of the Boston its release in May 2010, her sixth album, “e Foundling”, has University School of Social Work, employed as Director of Quality garnered widespread critical acclaim.